


Ghosts And Angels

by MelisandreStark



Series: Only If For A Night [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst, but I hope y'all will like it, it'll be a mixture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-10-05
Packaged: 2019-11-06 15:27:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 10,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17942291
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelisandreStark/pseuds/MelisandreStark
Summary: Obi-Wan and Luminara start to move on from the past- but what happens when it chases back after them?





	1. Purple

**Author's Note:**

> Yay ! Sequel ! Updates will be terribly irregular but I'll try my best kids

It’s a regular morning at work—head deep in a speeder, fingers greasy and shirt dirty, toddler sitting in the passenger seat giggling—that Obi-Wan Kenobi encounters his first real problem since moving to Alderaan almost three years ago. Luminara’s taken the early shift at the hospital about twenty minutes away, and as has become sort of tradition, Nerina accompanies him to the garage where he has a regular job as a speeder engineer.

His boss, to his initial great surprise, loves his young daughter and has absolutely no qualms about her being there—the child herself loves being out of the apartment and spending time with her beloved Papa. So really, it ticks all the boxes, and is very practical for the small Kenobi-Unduli family.

“Are you almost done, Papa?” Nerina stands up holding onto the back of one of the speeder’s seats, looking around impatiently.

“Nearly,” He says, wiping down a motor that he just successfully rewired. “Just gotta but this plate back on.”

“I’m hungry.” She sticks her bottom lip out and Obi-Wan gives her a look.

“We’ll get lunch in five minutes. Patience is a virtue, my dear.”

Nerina makes an unhappy noise and flops down on the seat, ever desiring to move. Patience is one thing that both her parents have in abundance and have attempted to distil onto her but thus far their efforts have been extremely unsuccessful. Obi-Wan slots the plate back into place and jumps back up to his feet, stretching his legs out after having them static for so long.

“Up!” Nerina commands. Obi-Wan walks to her seat where she stands with her arms held up and frowns.

“Is that really how we ask?” He says.

The toddler groans. “ _Please.”_

He obliges and rests her on his hip, and smiles at her. “It really wouldn’t kill you to remember your pleases and thank yous more often, you know.”

“Mama never tells me off for it.” She counters, fiddling with his sleeve.

“I know for a fact that she does.” In truth, of the two of them Luminara is the stricter parent—for perhaps a little too long Obi-Wan let his little girl get away with murder much to the frustration of his partner—so he’s slowly been correcting his ways and instilling more discipline. Ever a wilful child (something he grudgingly admits she has inherited from him), she does do what he asks of her most of the time but does have her moments of intense resistance. “I’ve seen her do it on many occasions.”

“Nope.”

“Yes.”

“Nuh-uh.”

“We aren’t having this debate, little one.” He chuckles lightly to himself and drops the speeder’s keys into a box and grabbing his jacket—they get an hour off for lunch every day, and when he has Nerina they always go to a nearby cafe which she adores simply because they shape their puff cakes like little shaaks.

He waves goodbye to his boss and heads out onto the street with Nerina still on his hip, leaning her head against him. The streets of Alderaan are always full of people from every sector—mostly lower class people like himself, but every now and then someone from the greater houses will come past with a small entourage (or big entourage, depending how high up they are). When selecting a place to live originally, he and Luminara had opted for an apartment as far from the Organa sector as possible to avoid seeing their old friend since it would cause nothing but inconvenience for them; sure there are people that they miss from their old lives, but they both know that they need to put all that behind them for their daughter. Running into Bail on accident would be like opening Pandora’s box. It simply can’t happen.

“Can I get the sliders, Papa?” Nerina asks him as they approach the cafe.

He mocks deliberation. “Hmm. I dunno, sweetheart. You know your mother doesn’t like it when you eat unhealthy.”

“Pwease!” She bats her big blue eyes, identical to Luminara’s at him, and he can’t help but let a smile slip through.

“Oh, alright. But when your mother gets here she’s not going to be awfully happy.”

In theory, Luminara’s lunch break is actually supposed to start twenty minutes before his (she starts work at 5:00 in the morning without a minutes break before lunch) but since there’s always a shortage of staff at the hospital and always a problem on average she’s always half an hour late to it, so about ten minutes late to meet them at the cafe.

The family always meets for meals but depending on what shift Luminara does they do it at different places—if she’s working the night shift then Nerina will stay home all day and he’ll come home to eat with them, and the day shift means eating out together. Either way, seeing his family all together is always the highlight of his day, and he’s happy to see Luminara take a break for lunch since she always works herself beyond what she should (and what is healthy).

He and Nerina enter the cafe together and take a seat by the window, Nerina practically jumping up and down on her cushioned red seat as the droid waiter passes her a menu—even though she can’t yet read. Obi-wan smiles at her excitement but gently encourages her to settle down.

“You’ll tear a whole in the seat if you don’t calm yourself.” He says to her, and after quickly losing interest in the menu she presses her hands to the glass and looks at the pedestrians outside.

Obi-Wan orders for them. “The sliders for her,” He tells the droid. “I’ll have a seallia sandwich, and could I get a portion of rootleaf stew for someone who’ll be coming soon?”

“Sure thing.” The droid says, spinning on its wheels and rolling back to the kitchen.

“Papa! Papa, look!” Nerina almost has her entire face squashed up against the glass and has stood up on her seat again, tapping her tiny little palms against the window.

“Hey, hey, calm down.” He says since the salt shaker on the table has starter to move with her. Obi-Wan stands up and leans over the table, scooping her up and rubbing her back to avoid any telekinetic mishaps that could occur as a result of her excitement. “What is it?”

“Mama!” She grins and points out the window. Sure enough Luminara is a few feet away wearing a black dress and loose headscarf that has a few stray hairs spilling out of it. Normally she looks completely immaculate to the very last detail—her appearance matters a lot to her, not that she’d ever admit that—so that’s very out of character (not that Nerina seems to notice that).

The mirialan woman walks into the building and spots them, face lifted as soon as she notices Nerina calling out her name excitedly. Luminara walks over to their table and takes her daughter from Obi-Wan, kissing her on the forehead and holding her close. “Hello my darling.” She smiles, sliding into the seat opposite Obi-Wan with Nerina on her lap. “How has your morning been?”

“Daddy fixed stuff and I helped!” She grins at her mother.

Luminara smiles back. “Really? I’m sure you aided him enormously.”

“Mhmm.” Nerina looks up at her and grabs at a loose strand of ebony hair—Luminara’s surprised that it’s free and suddenly feels quite self conscious, quickly tucking it back under her scarf.

“Are you alright?” Obi-Wan asks her, genuinely a little curious, not quite worried,

She opens her mouth to reply but then Nerina shuffles slightly on her lap, and reminded of her young child’s presence, Luminara stops. “Fine.” She eventually says, but gives Obi-Wan a look that says _we’ll talk later._

Their food arrives and the mood lightens; Nerina only has to be pulled down off the table once and, overall, there are no big incidents at lunch which is a rare and delightful thing.

 

* * *

 

 

It’s only after 10:00 that Luminara finally comes into the apartment that day—Nerina’s been in bed for over 3 hours—and Obi-Wan is starting to get very nervous.

“You’re late.”

She seems to visibly wince at the tone of his voice; it’s not angry at all, just worried, and while Luminara evidently knows her absence would have this kind of reaction she clearing isn’t ready to face it. “There was a problem with one of my patients.” She says. “I had to stay.”

It isn’t a lie but it also isn’t technically the truth either—Obi-Wan can sense the cloud of anxiety circling her enough to know this. “Luminara.”

The look she gives him is sheepish.

“Are we going to talk, or are you going to continue standing there like Nerina when I catch her taking cookies from the tin?”

A little annoyed at the comment, the nurse sighs and sits next to him on their couch. It’s a modest apartment but over the years they’ve collected up some nice furniture which is more minimal than most people have but extravagant in comparison to what they had as Jedi. “I hate not being honest with you. I’m sorry.” Luminara says, exhaling deeply.

“Then be honest with me. You know I won’t get mad.”

She does know this—he’s always calm and patient with her, even when she feels she doesn’t deserve it. “My patient did have a sudden setback but I could have come home hours ago—there were others that could’ve handled it and my shift ended at 7:00. I just...I knew that this conversation was inevitable and it was my feeble attempt at putting it off.”

“What do you mean?” He frowns.

She gives him a very forced smile. “Would you like the bad news or the very bad news?”

A seed of sinking apprehension plants itself at the bottom of Obi-Wan’s stomach. “Very bad. Get it out of the way.”

“The matron in my ward was talking to me and one of the other nurses about Jedi, here, on Alderaan.” She says. “And normally it wouldn’t worry me too much, except Senator Organa supposedly was supposedly surprised by their arrival and they haven’t been seen in the Organa sector since. That means they’re here on Jedi business and, oh, what if they’re after Nerina?”

Obi-Wan takes her hand and squeezes it, pulling her close to comfort her. “It’s probably not that. The Jedi have a million problems and we are the least of them right now. Try not to worry about it.”

“I think we need to move again.” The pace of her breath quickens. “We can’t stay here if they know where we are, and I know in any normal situation we could pack up and move quickly but I don’t want that this time, we can’t—“

“Hey, hey.” Obi-Wan pulls back and cups her cheek, looking at her with a small smile. “Try not to worry about it. The Jedi probably have no clue we’re here, and on the very small chance they do I have friends who can get us out in no time. It’ll all work out. You’ll see.”

 _“No...”_ She shakes her head. “That would all be fine except—“

“Except what, Luminara?”

She looks up and meets his eyes. “Obi-Wan,” She says. “I’m pregnant.”

Really, he shouldn’t be as surprised as he is about that.

They’ve spoken about having another a few months ago—after having to take Nerina out of her play group since her natural connection to the force is often a hindrance rather than something to celebrate—about the very large possibility of her becoming lonely. Perhaps not now when Luminara and Obi-Wan could spend every second with her and she adores their company, but  further down the line she’ll most likely want to make friends of her own and it’s simply too risky to send her to a mainstream school where she could injure herself or other children when she gets riled up.

Having a sibling would, at least, give her more of the social skills she is otherwise lacking and in a sense help to normalise their situation more; both of them had agreed it isn’t a bad idea. Obi-Wan’s only major worry going into it was how something like that could affect Luminara, especially considering her traumatic it was last time with Nerina.

“Hey, ‘Nara, don’t get upset about that.” He says, pulling her into a comforting embrace. “That’s not bad news, its good. We’re gonna have another baby, Nerina will have a little brother or sister. That’s all good—please don’t let it upset you.”

Taking a moment to compose herself, she bites her lip and nods. “Y-You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m probably overreacting.”

“No, you have every reason to get upset.” He tells her. “Go to bed, yeah? Take the late shift tomorrow, you’re so tired.”

To this she concedes since she’s almost struggling to keep her eyes open and kisses him goodnight before making her way to bed. Obi-Wan intends to go after her but lingers, far more nervous about the news of the Jedi that he wants her to know. Grabbing his keys, he walks to the kitchen area and squats down to the cupboard under the sink where he and Luminara keep a big heavy duty metal safe. Sliding the key in, his hand reaches out the cold metal object that he once considered an extension of his own arm—his lightsaber.

Obi-Wan isn’t even entirely sure why he does it. For some sort of mental comfort, he supposes.

He had insisted that they kept the weapons, despite Luminara’s protests otherwise. His hopes had led to him to—perhaps misguidedly—believe that they would never need to use a weapon again. Being out of the front lines could almost make one forget they were amidst a war, even if Count Dooku is gone.

Something is coming—he knows. But what that exactly is he has yet to figure out.

 

* * *

 

 

Ahsoka Tano is still a padawan. This is something she is beginning to resent since despite her best efforts she still can’t be sent out without a more senior Jedi to escort her—Anakin’s great, and she wouldn’t ever want another master, but sometimes she wishes she could have more independence and, as a result, _privacy._

She and Anakin are as close as two Jedi can be platonically. Their relationship has, save for their rather tense introduction, always been rather fond but after Obi-Wan’s departure her master had been very close to breaking down; not that he’s ever really admitted that to anyone except for Ahsoka herself and, as she was a shocked to find out, his wife Padmé.

Realistically, Ahsoka knows that it was sort of predictable for them to be more than just friends. Her master had always been a little too protective of Senator Amidala, and always very close without much explanation as to why. She’d always previously supposed that they were just old friends from back before Ahsoka had met either of them and as a result kept close, or that Naboo’s senator was a big provider of information for the Jedi. It had never really occurred to her that their relationship was romantic, though now she realises that it probably should have.

At that revelation—something she found about two years ago now—she’d been very conflicted about how to respond. The Jedi code would decree that she would have had to tell on the couple; Anakin was already a flight risk (always has been) and forbidden attachment would only make him more dangerous; the only thing morally stopping her was her own attachment to him, which could debatably make everything even worse and more complicated.

And she isn’t stupid. Ahsoka knows how romantic attachment can lure and bury people in the dark, and ruin them completely should it go wrong. But she also knows—has _seen_ —from Obi-Wan Kenobi and Luminara Unduli how it can also promote strength of will and a good sort of passion that gives the carrier just enough drive to achieve things that may not otherwise be possible.

While it can result in pain and darkness, it can also deliver faith and hope which is something truly good and pure.

So she leaves them to their own devices, which it totally fine when their back on Coruscant since it means that Anakin’s often out of their shared apartments to see her and Ahsoka gets her own space.

When she is alone, she often invites over the newly knighted Barriss Offee to spend time with her. Initially what she had believed was borne was a tight knit friendship as a result of shared experiences. Ahsoka can relate to Barriss in ways that no one else really can—she is a celebrated and decorated member of the Order since it was her who killed Count Dooku and has received honours and congratulations more than she can count but she _doesn’t want it_ and Ahsoka is the only person who understands that.

A few weeks ago the council received information that a Dathomiran Zabrak believed to be Darth Maul or some sort of impersonation of him was spotted on Alderaan by one of their contacts; with a war still raging strong all around them and Alderaan being one of the few planets in complete Republic control it seemed bizarre and almost eerie to have a Sith figure previously believed to be dead resurface. The council assigned her, Anakin and Barriss to investigate privately for the Jedi with access to Senator Organa’s resources should they be needed.

They’ve only been on Alderaan for a week—a planet where everything senses almost off balance, strong in light yet dark simultaneously to a point where it should be neutral but just isn’t—and, in truth, haven’t really made any progress in terms of their mission.

Ahsoka has come to the conclusion, however, that she would _really_ appreciate some more privacy from her master on missions when Barriss is right there all quiet and strong and freaking _adorable._

She knows it’s wrong to have any romantic feelings or attachments, and that Barriss will undoubtedly leave her affections unrequited forever, but her master got into a romantic relationship and her master’s master did it too so _really_ she’s just following the example she’s been set.

(That’s what she’s telling herself, anyway)

“He’s been spotted here,” Barriss says late on their eighth day on Alderaan, late one night on the floor with a holomap of Alderaan while Anakin snores on the other side of the room. “And since then local authorities have seen nothing. It’s like he just vanished.”

“He could have gone off-world.” Ahsoka offers. “There are regular transports coming in and out of the spaceport.”

The knight shakes her head. “The spaceport is the most closely monitored place on Alderaan—there’s absolutely no way he managed to sneak past all the security and cameras and make it onto a public ship without being spotted at all. It’s not like his face doesn’t stand out or anything.”

That’s true enough—Ahsoka’s seen a few pictures of the red, tattooed Sith. The last thing anyone would ever call him is inconspicuous.

“There are always illegal transports.” She says. “No planet is completely without them.”

“It’s a possibility, but still unlikely.” Barriss sighs. “And none of this explains what a possible Sith lord would be doing on a heavily Republic planet. It would be like us going to Geonosis for a vacation. It’s just not realistic in any manner I can imagine it.”

There’s a small pondering silence. “What’s on Alderaan that a Sith could want?”

“Senator Organa?” Barriss bites her lip. “He comes to and from Coruscant pretty frequently, and to be honest it would most definitely be easier to kill him off on Coruscant where it’s infested with bounty hunters and lowlifes from all over the galaxy that here where everyone is essentially the same.”

None of it really makes sense, which means they are most likely missing something. But they have a job to do here, and they’ll do it. It’s not like Anakin Skywalker’s team has ever failed to get themselves into trouble.

 

* * *

 

 

A week after the conversation regarding Jedi presence, Obi-Wan Kenobi returns home to see his partner laying asleep on the couch with their baby snuggles against her chest equally unconscious. It’s only about 6:00 but Luminara took the night shift the night before and is most likely exhausted; Nerina takes her naps around 2:00, but it seems this once has extended.

Not wanting to mess up either of their sleeping schedules any further, Obi-Wan gently shakes them both awake making sure they’re both still comfortable. Luminara yawns, slowly coming to terms with her surroundings and blinking heavily.

She stretches one arm wearily through another yawn. “I really didn’t mean to sleep too long.”

He laughs softly. “I’m sure you didn’t. But I didn’t want to leave you since it’ll only cause problems—and I was going to make my famous pylat stew, and I’d hate for you to miss that.”

“Mmm.” She smiles and sits up, cradling Nerina and kissing her softly to wake her. “I’m eternally grateful.”

“Rightfully so.” He heads to their little kitchen area and pulls out some pots and pans before washing his hands and heading to the fridge to grab some ingredients. He finds that Luminara is often her most beautiful like this—messy hair uncovered and let loose down her back, clothes rumpled and creased with sleep, cradling their baby in her arms protectively. If someone had told him five years ago that he’d be here now he’d have called them mad, but he’d also have wished for something so perfect. “So how’s your day been?”

“We played with her dolls which I hate to admit was quite tedious, she jumped off the couch and hit her head and then if I’m honest the rest was a blur of running, crying and my surprisingly successful attempt at healing.”

“You’re a nurse.” Obi-Wan frowns. “Isn’t healing, like, your thing?”

“I heal with bacta and needles and pills, not the force.” She says. “Though admittedly I’ve improved, despite my restraint nowadays when it comes to using the force. I think I’m just very hesitant.”

Being force-sensitive isn’t something you can just bury and hide—both Luminara and Obi-Wan sense things all around them all the time and do use this to aid them with their decisions—but both of them, though predominantly Luminara, have made an active effort not to use their natural abilities unless it has real cause. When they moved here Luminara locked their weapons up in the safe under the sink and has taught repression rather than exploitation to her daughter to save the girl from the targeting she would no doubt receive should the public become aware of the extent of her ‘talent’.

It’ll be easier once Nerina’s a little older and she has more understanding of her surroundings, so she can start learning to control her abilities. But right now Luminara won’t even let her go to school for fear of something happening and so teaches her to read and write at home which is painful since Nerina has a notoriously short attention span.

“Fair enough.” He turns the puts some water in a pan and starts to chop the vegetables up. “How are you feeling?”

She sighs and Nerina jumps out of her arms and runs off to her room to play. “Exhausted. A bit sick. It wasn’t this hard last time, for a while at least I felt totally normal.”

“I guess every time is bound to be different.” Obi-Wan says and smiles at her. “We have some nausea meds in the bathroom, if you like.”

Luminara shakes her head. “No. I don’t want to take anything that could hurt the baby.”

“They’re only tablets.”

“I know,” She sighs, and stands walking over to him. “But I just don’t feel comfortable with it. That’s all.”

It’s her decision—he needs no further explanation as to why she chooses not to do something. “Alright.” He says, and turns around pulling her into a comforting hug. Luminara relaxes against him and holds on for a while.

“I love you so much.” She whispers, and that makes him smile widely.

“I love you too.”

 

* * *

 

 

Nerina knows perfectly well that when Papa brings her to work she’s not allowed to wander out of the garage for her own ‘safety’ and all that other boring stuff. And normally she follows this rule because Papa speaks to her while he works, and she gets to sit in all the fancy speeders he fixes, but today he’s in some sort of ‘meeting’ which means that Nerina is supposed to sit in the main garage, watched by the stupid receptionist with nothing to do.

It isn’t hard to sneak out; the receptionist is watching some film and ignoring her completely so she slips out the open window onto the street that’s quite full of people; mostly humans like Papa, but sometimes she’s see something else which is more like her Mama, or something that’s different entirely.

Nerina toddles out onto the street faster than one would imagine she could go and grabs onto a light post to take a moment to look around. She comes out here with Papa most days but she barely ever gets to do things by herself and that’s always very _exciting._

There’s a hairdresser across the road with big windows instead of walls so she can see all the people getting their hair washed and brushed and combed—not that she can imagine why anyone would get that done voluntarily, she absolutely hates it when her parents try and wash her own hair. There aren’t any children around apart from a few tiny babies in floating prams hovering in front of their parents while they walk and talk in small clusters. Nerina can’t remember back when she was that small much, but sometimes she sees pictures.

“Are you lost, little girl?” She almost jumps in surprise as a stranger perches down next to her with a smile that’s a little bit scary. “Where are your parents?”

Suddenly a little nervous, she points to the garage. Her mother told her not to talk to strangers.

“Shouldn’t you be going back in there, then? I’m sure they’re awful worried that you’re not with them.” The stranger, a human woman with brown hair says.

“She’ll be coming with me now.”

The new voice is deep and guttural, almost raspy like the villains in all the storybooks Mama reads her. Nerina can’t see the face of this new stranger; he simply waves a gloved hand in front of the woman whose face turns to something unreadable.

“She’ll be coming with you now.” She repeats, and stands back up fully before promptly walking away.

Nerina looks up at the person with the deep voice and squints slightly—their face is covered up with black cloth like the kind Mama wears on her hair and the rest of his body is cloaked heavily in black. The little girl is only a little bit taller than his knees but rather than shying away from this scary figure Nerina stands her ground and pouts.

“I have a present for you.” The man says. “Would you like it?”

“Mama said I’m not allowed to speak to strangers.”

“And yet you’re already talking to me. You’re a smart little girl,” He says, reaching into his cloak. “You know I’m not out to hurt you.”

She doesn’t know that—but supposes he’s right. Still, he is a bit scary, and she suddenly feels that she very much wants her Papa.

“Before you go back to your father,” The man says. It does not occur to Nerina to wonder how he knew it was her father that was supposed to be with her. “I have a present for you.”

“A present!” The brightens her spirits, and her fears are brushed slightly to the side. Her parents only get her presents on her name day and that totally sucks since she loves presents. “Is it wrapped? I love unwrapping stuff.”

The stranger seems bemused. They don’t laugh and she doesn’t see them smile, it’s just a feeling she can sort of read. “No. But I think you might like it anyways.” Out of the stranger’s cloak comes a little box that fits neatly in the palm of her hand with dark metal swirls all around it—he gently hands it to Nerina and she observes it clearly.

“Can I open it?”

“Yes. But it doesn’t open like a normal box. It’s special, and you should keep it safe.”

As far as boxes go, this one sure does look special. It has pretty patterns on it and, in a way she can’t quite explain, seems to be tugging into her like a magnet. Nerina can’t quite tell it that’s a good or bad thing, but it’s pretty, so she puts the little box in her pocket and looks back up to the stranger to see no one there.

“Nerina Kenobi!”

She spins back around, pouting a little since she didn’t get to say thank you and use the manners Mama is always drilling her about, to see her father in a full sprint coming towards her.

He scoops her up and hugs her tight like he’s worried, and then looks quite cross. “You know you’re not allowed to leave the garage! Why would you do that, you scared me half to death?”

“I was bored.” She says, because it’s true.

Papa does one of his big sighs and holds her a little tighter than normal. “Don’t do it again. You’ll be getting a punishment for that, you can’t just wander off.”

“But—!”

“No buts.” Papa says warningly. “Now let’s go back in, and you will stay _put_ or so force help me I’ll take away your teddy for a full week. Are you okay?”

Nerina nods and puts one thumb into her mouth to suck while the other hand slips into her pocket, gently twiddling with the little box that she very much wants to figure out how to open.

 


	2. Green

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oof this took wayyyy to long wtf

“They were attacked in a bar,” Ahsoka says. “And taken to a hospital nearby, where we’ve been given permission to question them.”

“Remind me,” Anakin says from underneath his cloak as they walk down the long Alderaanian streets towards the big Crevasse City hospital. It is true that all of them have felt a pull in the force towards the city of Crevasse since their arrival—and, remembering his dear Master’s teachings, Anakin knows better than to ignore his instincts—but there was something about Crevasse that also...repels him. “How a small pub brawl is at all relevant to our mission.”

“It probably isn’t.” Barriss tells him. “But we’ve got nothing else even close to a lead. It’s like this ‘Maul’ person is invisible, assuming he’s still on Alderaan. The only logical thing to do is follow any unusual disturbances and hope it leads us closer towards him.”

“Plus it’s a break from looking through security cameras all day.” Ahsoka adds cheerily as they turn a corner towards the hospital. It’s an enormous, impressive building—on par with the grand hospital in Aldera—broken up into a hundred wards with thousands of patients from both Alderaan and off-world—the Organa’s made their health facilities available for the Republic effort, so hundreds of injured refugees are sent to one of the six major hospitals on the planet before they are of adequate health to be relocated. Being a healer herself, Barriss has much admiration for others who dedicate their lives to the healing arts and this hospital.

There are armoured guards all around the hospital, healers and nurses heading in with patients giving them ID, speeders loaded with boxes of supplies, food and water coming in and out through ray shielded archways that sit either side of the large sliding door that acts as the main entrance to the hospital. In total there are eight entrances—according to Barriss—but they have no reason to sneak around on this particular task, so opt for the main one.

A human guard protected with blue and white patterned gear looks them up and down, and they take their hoods down passing him ID. His eyes glance towards their belts that, relatively discretely, display their lightsabers but his expression remains neutral. They’re expected.

“You’re gonna want to head through cardiology and take a left through past a dozen bacta rooms. You’ll find who you’re looking for in shock recovery.” The guard tells them. Anakin thanks him and leads the others in the right direction.

The corridors are a sea of rushing healers and patients, barking orders into transmitters and navigating the seemingly endless maze of corridors, rooms and wards. Ahsoka takes a moment to acknowledge the privilege of having a private med-bay for Jedi back at the temple which is a calm, unsettled pool compared to the raging sea that is this public hospital.

They’re halfway through the cardiology ward when Barriss suddenly stops and winces, putting a hand to her head. Ahsoka frowns and places a hand on her friend’s shoulder. “What’s wrong?”

“I...” She trails off, looking around at the healers and patients. “I sense something...familiar. So familiar. Right here, like its right next to me.”

Ahsoka frowns. Sure, it senses a little off in here but she assumes it’s due to the sheer amount of pain and devastation that’s present in a place like this—and besides, it’s nothing more that the horror of the aftermath of a battle. It’s not as if, as tragically sad as it is, she isn’t _used_ to this.

“We can check it out after the questioning, if you like.” Ahsoka offers with a weak smile.

The mirialan knight shakes her head. “No. You guys go ahead, I need to check this out. I’ll meet you by the entrance in a half hour.”

“We need to be in and out, Barriss. I’m not sure it’s a good idea to split up and get lost forever in this maze.” Anakin says, glancing to his chrono.

“I know. I’m sure it won’t take too long. But I feel like I can’t ignore this...whatever this is.” Barriss says with such sincerity that Ahsoka is inclined to agree with her.

Anakin sighs. “You know what, fine. But get lost and we aren’t coming to find you.”

“Speak for yourself.” Ahsoka snorts, and elbows him in the stomach. Barriss doesn’t look amused, simply nodding absently and stalking off in the other direction. The other pair start off through the rest of the cardiology ward.

Anakin looks at his padawan. “That girl confuses me. She bangs on about ‘sticking to the plan’ and all that kriffin’ ‘logic’ and then walks off like a fairy high on deathsticks.”

“You know, you shouldn’t say that.” Ahsoka says, though in her own confusion finds herself guiltily agreeing with him. She sends once glance back to see Barriss has gone off somewhere and then tries to take it off her mind; right now she has an objective, and she really should be focussing on that.

 

* * *

 

 

It starts was a completely regular day.

Mr Harrisene, one of Luminara’s patients, is close to recovery from a heart attack he faced a few days ago and it’s been her job to keep him in under observation and keep him connected to some drugs to clear his veins and stabilize him. He’s a pleasant man, really—if a little flirtatious, though it’s not like Luminara isn’t used to that in this line of work. To get this job she’s had to go on a six-week training course at a college nearby (something that might have been the most unsettling and bizarre experience of her life) and the first thing she’d been taught was ‘ignore all patients advances, even if they aren’t so rough on the eyes’ because ‘it’ll never end well’.

“You going to let me see a lock of your secret hair today?” Harrisene asks, and Luminara looks at him blankly while she takes his pulse.

“Your pulse is steadying well. I think that I’ll be able to discharge you after lunch.” She ignores his statement.

He grins at her. “You won’t give me a strand to remember my saviour by?”

“I’m hardly your saviour. It was the doctors who did the surgery, remember?” Luminara says. “My hair shall remain covered, my apologies.”

“I met another mirialan woman once, tall with tattoos on her forehead.” He drawls. “And the most amazing dark brown hair that flowed like a river down her back—she had eyes like yours, too, but I bit less purple and more navy.”

“I’m sure she was wonderful.” Luminara replies, not looking at him as she takes his blood pressure.

“She was.” He nods. “And she didn’t wear a headscarf. Why must you?”

It isn’t said in a malicious way, more just in curiosity. It’s a question Luminara’s been asked hundreds of time by now, though still doesn’t mind it. Her culture is important to her, something that’s rejected by far too many young mirialan women nowadays, and she takes pride in it. “It’s to symbolize purity, loyalty to my lifemate.” She says. “Only they and my family get to see my hair.”

“Do you have one?” He asks. “A lifemate, I mean.”

Luminara raises an eyebrow. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”

He laughs. “I won’t try and steal you, if that’s the case. I’m just making harmless conversation, Nurse Lumia.”

In her work she goes by the name Lumia since it’s easy enough to respond to, but should anyone come looking for her it’ll at least make it a little trickier. Her surname here is Ren since it’s a relatively common name, and no one would think about it twice. It’s a precaution that could be considered unnecessary, but if being a Jedi taught her anything it’s that one can never be too prepared nor too careful.

She looks up at the clock. “It’s my lunch break, I’m afraid, Mr Harrisene—after I’ve finished doing this, I’ll have to leave you.”

“So soon?” He frowns a little overdramatically.

Luminara smiles formally. “I’ll be back in a couple of hours to discharge you. For now, just stay in bed and eat something.”

He nods and says goodbye before she gets up and begins to leave, heading towards the locker room that all the nurses and doctors share. Her scrubs aren’t particularly comfortable, but she tends to keep them on all day, she only keeps her bag and a coat in her locker rather than a change of clothes like some of the other nurses do. It’s for practicality above anything else; with her coat over the top it hardly looks like she’s in any sort of uniform.

(The truth is that Luminara doesn’t really know any of the other nurses despite having worked here at Crevasse City Hospital for years by anything other than their names, and that’s because she makes every active effort to avoid conversing with them beyond what us obviously unavoidable).

Today the locker room is completely empty as she walks in which isn’t unusual. Her locker is at the back-left corner of the room, so she approaches it, typing in her combination key and opening it up. She opens her bag up and checks her purse to see how much money she has—Luminara’s been meaning to pick up another hairbrush for Nerina since she smashed the last one accidently for a few days now, it’s just slipped her mind—but before she can look properly the door opens behind her and all her senses burst in an explosion of carefully contained panic.

“Excuse me?” An awfully familiar voice calls out, and Luminara stays with her back to the person. “I was wondering if I could speak to you.”

Her force signature is always kept as silent and discrete as Luminara can keep it so there is no way this person knows for sure who she is—but it must be sheer familiarity of aura that’s drawn them towards her. The ex-Jedi takes a deep breath and bites her lip, regretting what she’s about to before she’s even done it.

It a flash, she pushes the other figure back out of the doorway with the force so she crashes into the wall of the corridor opposite, and makes a mad dash out of the room while the person takes a few seconds to recuperate. Luminara does not doubt that’s she’s being chased closely, and that this person may be able to outrun her, but she knows this hospital like that back of her hand so can use this to her advantage.

She moves through neurology in attempt to get to one of the back exits, still feeling her pursuer on her trail, and jumps around a corner through a doorway in order to lose herself in a crowd of people.

 

* * *

 

 

Barriss exits the hospital panting only to find her target lost in the mass of moving humanoids.  She feels a slight sense of despair since that this person might have been her first genuine lead—they are clearly force sensitive enough to push her back against the wall and clever enough to lose a Jedi; if these aren’t traits of Sith like the one they’re looking for, or at least someone connected to a Sith, then Barriss doesn’t know what is.

And yet Barriss can’t let go of the feeling that there’s something familiar about this person, whoever they are. With a sigh of defeat, she heads back into the hospital without the slightest clue where to find Ahsoka and Anakin.

She turns the picture off and calls them on her holometer, fortunately Ahsoka picks up. “Hey Barriss, where are you?”

Barriss looks up at a sign. “Neurology, I think? Where are you?”

“I’m not too sure. We got a bit lost after we spoke to that guy—who was useless, by the way, which is a bit disappointing, but I suppose there wasn’t much chance of him being any good anyway. Did you find what you were looking for, anyway?”

“Sort of...” Barriss keeps walking around aimlessly until she spots the rather colourful togruta with Master Skywalker and waves to them. “Actually, I think I might have found our first lead. At least I would have had they not gotten away.”

She approaches the other Jedi. “What did you find?” Anakin asks her.

Barriss recounts what just happened, and they both look at her thoughtfully. “You said you found them in a locker room.” Ahsoka says. “Do you remember which locker they were at?”

“Uh, yeah, I think so.” Barriss says.

Anakin grins at his padawan. “Oh, you are clever sometimes. Snips.”

Ahsoka’s grin is even wider than her Master’s. “I’m sure there are other people who keep their things in that locker room—other people who could tell us who that locker belongs to and where we can find them.”

 

* * *

 

 

Luminara sprints towards the cafe where Nerina and Obi-Wan are waiting without taking even a second to rest until she’s standing right in front of them receiving a look from Obi-Wan as Nerina—probably sensing her emotions rather acutely—bursts into tears.

“Oh, my darling, I’m sorry.” Through deep breaths Luminara picks her daughter up and bounces her up and down to try and calm her, before looking to Obi-Wan.  “We need to go.”

He sees how serious she is and nods without another word, Nerina starting to calm down in her mother’s arms. Obi-Wan knows better than to ask after Luminara in public, which she appreciates greatly as they make their way quickly back to their apartment.

“We need to go.” She repeats once the door shuts behind them. “There’s a bus that goes to the spaceport a few blocks down and I think we’ll catch it if we’re quick. We can figure out where we’re going once we’re there.”

Luminara grabs a few bags and begins stuffing some of their essentials inside—clothes, some of Nerina’s toys, food and water. For a long moment Obi-Wan can do naught but stare at her in a state of confusion. He knows that she’s paranoid about Jedi presence on Alderaan but he had not thought her _this_ paranoid. “Luminara...” She doesn’t seem to hear him, continuing her mad flurry of packing while Nerina runs into her room.

“Luminara!” She looks up at his louder call, startled. Obi-Wan puts his hands on her shoulders to steady her. “Luminara...”He repeats softly. “You need to talk to me. What happened?”

Her eyes seem a little distant as she bites her lip. “She saw me, Obi-Wan.”

“Who saw you?”

“Barriss.” Luminara looks at the ground. “I don’t know if she knew it was me, but she cornered me in the locker room and asked to speak to me. I can’t understand how she found me—I’ve taken so many precautions to avoid this! But she found me, so I ran and now we need to _go_ because it probably won’t take her long to track me back to here and I can’t— _we_ can’t—”

“Take a deep breath, try and settle your mind.” Obi-Wan tells her slowly. “Rushing will only lead to mistakes. Now, are you absolutely certain it was Barriss?”

She almost looks offended at that. “Yes, of course!”

“Then we probably should get going.” He sighs, somewhat regretfully. He knows that Barriss wouldn’t wish them any sort of harm in a million years, but the truth is that the Jedi are just as after Nerina as the Sith and he isn’t sure they aren’t above using Barriss towards that end. If she’s hunting them, then she likely has little say in the matter and is hardly in a position in the Order to argue. “I’ll go and get Nerina and make sure she’s okay, you get all this packing sorted quickly and...” He gives her a look before whispering. “Bring the lightsabers.”

Luminara does not want to even touch the weapon again but knows he’s right—when they’re tracked here there will be a sweep of their apartment and if the lightsabers are found then there will be no question of their identities. It’s important that they take them, if only for that.

With a sigh, Luminara takes the weapons from their safe and pushes them to the bottom of her bag.

 

* * *

 

 

Nerina doesn’t know exactly what’s happening, but she is not stupid. Mama always has an aura of stress—or, at least, most of the time—but she’d been so full of panic and boiling emotion when she came to eat that it had scared Nerina to tears. She’s calmer now, she always is when Papa talks to her, but she’s moving really fast and packing as if they’re going away.

The little girl goes into her room while her parents talk and takes the little box that the strange man gave her last week from where she’s hidden it. She still hasn’t figured out how to open it, but she tries most days, she’d ask Papa but he might be angry with her for taking presents from strangers. Carefully, she slips the box into her pocket and rubs her eyes, looking at her stuffed shaak and calling it over to her using what her parents call ‘the force’.

She’s not supposed to use it in public—not supposed to use it _at all_ if she can—but it’s awfully easy and it makes her happy; it’s fun to see all her toys floating around her even if it upsets Mama and Papa. They don’t seem to understand that it’s second nature to her, it’s far less effort to call something over like that than it is to go over and pick it up.

“Nerina?” Papa says, coming into her room and she smiles at him a little. He smiles back, though not as much, and sits cross-legged next to her.

“What’s happening Papa?” She says, holding her toy close to her.

“We’re going on a holiday for a while. Just you, your mother and I.” He says. “It’ll be fun, you’ll see.”

The little girl looks at him almost sceptically but doesn’t really understand why he would make something like this up, so crawls into his lap and nestles herself against his chest. Papa gives her a hug and kisses the top of her head. “Don’t worry. It’s all okay, baby.”

“Obi-Wan.” Mama says through the doorway. “Five minutes.” She has one big bag slung over her shoulder and there’s another one waiting by her feet, Papa sighs and nods. He stands, putting Nerina back onto her own feet, and pulls the bag on the floor over.

“Put some of the things you want to take in the bag, baby.” Mama says. “Make it quick—only the really important stuff, okay?”

Nerina nods.

This suddenly feels quite important.

Mama and Papa leave the room, talking to each other urgently in hushed tones, while their daughter stuffs her shaak, a doll and some of her fake flowers inside. She briefly considers putting the special box that the man gave her inside too but opts to slide that into her pocket instead—it’s _hers,_ and only she’s allowed to have it.

It’s almost exactly five minutes later that the Kenobi family evacuate their apartment permanently and jump onto a bus that will hopefully take them far, far away from this nightmare of discovery.

 

* * *

 

 

“Mystery nurse, runaway suspect—oh, this is finally getting exciting!” Ahsoka cries, jumping up and down a couple of times as they wait in the locker room for the matron of the ward to come over. Legally speaking, they need proper authority to discuss the personal belongings and spaces of the employees at the hospital, and while since they’re Jedi they could probably bypass this, Barriss shown distaste for breaking rules too early so they don’t.

After about ten minutes of waiting the matron comes in looking slightly exasperated. “Look, I know you’re Jedi, but I’m running a real institution here and people’s lives rely on the efficiency of our care, so whatever it is you want make it quick.”

Anakin takes the lead. “We need to inquire about the owner of this locker.”

The matron pulls up a lost on the tablet she’s holding and files through. “Belongs to Nurse Lumia.”

“Can you tell us about her, personal information?” Anakin asks.

The matron seems annoyed even though, given their Jedi, he’s perfectly entitled to ask that question. “Her full name is Lumia Ren. She’s 30 years of age. She’s been working at the hospital for about two years, the children’s ward for her first six months and then she was transferred to my ward.”

“Why was she transferred?” Ahsoka asks.

“Because she didn’t like the children—talents were better suited on my ward.” The matron says, still looking entirely unimpressed. “Will that be all.”

It isn’t a question, but Anakin decides to take it as one.

“No, it won’t.” Anakin says. “We’re going to need her address, and anything you can tell us about her personality—what she’s like day to day when you’re working with her, that kind of stuff.”

The matron groans. “Here’s her address.” She pulls it up on her tablet and Barriss is quick to copy it down. “I must have a hundred nurses on my ward, and Lumia’s the quietest and least disturbing of all. She does her job well; she’s dedicated, never caused any problems. May I please attend my patients now?”

“Of course, we thank you very much for your help.” Barriss says neutrally, and the matron scurries off.

Ahsoka wrinkles her nose. “I didn’t like her one bit.”

“Me neither.” Anakin frowns, leading them out of the locker room. “But I suppose we should go to that address now. This is our first real lead, and I’m of a mind to get on it as soon as possible. The sooner this mission’s over the better.”

The two younger Jedi find themselves agreeing with him. “It’s not too far from here.” Barriss says. “Though something feels odd about this Lumia Ren. I don’t know what it is, but something’s not quite right.”

“Well it is a bit shifty that she ran away from you, Barriss.” Ahsoka says, which isn’t helpful information whatsoever.

Barriss rolls her eyes but is smiling. “No, I mean something more than that. I mean, from what the matron said it seems like she’s trying to keep a low profile here, but then why throw that away by running away like that? And why did the force lead me to her? I don’t know, something’s wrong here, and I want to find out what.”

“I think we all do, Barriss.” Anakin smiles.

“Agreed.” Ahsoka says as they leave the hospital. “Who knows, maybe she’s a secret Sith Lord and we’ve just stumbled on the biggest enemy secret of all time.”

Both Anakin and Barriss chuckle at that. “You’re such an annoying optimist.” The mirialan girl rolls her eyes again.

“I’m not sure optimistic is the right word to use when describing the possibility of finding a Sith Lord.” Ahsoka crinkles her nose cutely.

Barriss smiles at her warmly. “You’re probably right on that front.”

 

* * *

 

 

Nerina erupts into tears all of a sudden, with no explanation, from where she’s laying asleep on Obi-Wan’s shoulder. Both her parents are surprised, Obi-Wan’s shoots up into a standing position and tries to calm her down immediately. Luminara watches them—her family—startled at the outburst but distracted, wondering how much longer the captain of the public ship they’re taking to Stewjon will take. The Jedi must surely be on their scent by now, and it won’t be too long before—

Her train of thought is stopped as another scream is wrangled from Nerina’s throat as Obi-Wan helplessly tries to calm her down, bouncing her up and down on his hip and offering words of comfort. Nerina is a wilful child and not above screaming and crying to get her way but the truth is that genuine tears of sadness or pain or fear are relatively uncommon for Luminara’s daughter. It happening twice in a day, genuinely, is relatively unheard of. She must have had a nightmare.

The mirialan woman, one hand laid on her flat stomach in self reassurance, walks over to Obi-Wan and takes her daughter from him who continues in her noise. “I’ll take care of it,” She says to Obi-Wan with more confidence that she feels. “Go see how the ships coming a long.”

Hesitantly, he nods, and slowly walks away.

“Please don’t cry my darling.” Luminara whispers, rocking her from side to side gently and rubbing circles on her back. “Did you have a nightmare?”

The little girl nods through choked sobs—Luminara kisses her temple softly and moves over to a seat. She brushes some stray hairs from Nerina’s face and wipes her wet cheeks with her sleeve. “Can you tell me what happened, little love?”

Nerina shakes her head furiously and buries her face in the crook of Luminara’s neck. The mirialan woman sighs and continues to hold her tightly, unwilling to push her any further. It’s a stressful time—poor thing probably doesn’t understand their sudden movement and just wants to go back home. She may act like she’s all-knowing but is still only three years old, it’s not like she can really comprehend what’s going on around. Luminara doesn’t blame her for finding these new surroundings a little scary.

After a few minutes the little girl manages to calm down but stays with her face buried against her mother’s neck. Luminara doesn’t mind too much so lets her remain like that, watching out for Obi-Wan’s return. He comes back after about another five minutes.

“Ship’s almost good to go. Couple minutes tops.” He says and kisses the back of Nerina’s head.

Luminara nods and stands up, still holding Nerina against her. “The bags are already on the ship.” Obi-Wan continues.

“Let’s head to the hangar.” Luminara says. “I just want to be off this planet now. This is exhausting.”

It occurs to Luminara as they walk towards the hangar that the last time she was in the spaceport Nerina was just a little newborn without any prospects, home or ideas for the future. They’ve built such a life for themselves here—something so blissfully domestic that is so contrary to anything she might have had in all her years serving the Jedi. In her rush to escape she’s not realised how sad it makes her to leave all this behind, though knows she’ll get over it; it’s for the best.

With a sigh, Luminara boards the ship clutching her young daughter tight and prays that the future might be as bright as the past three years have been for them.

 

* * *

 

 

The first thing Ahsoka says as the trio stand in the doorway and survey their surroundings is: “I think she might have just left.”

“Not just her.” Barriss says, picking up a little doll that’s strewn on the floor. “An entire family, apparently. I’m not sure that whoever this is who we’re looking for. It’s not like Sith tend to have young children.”

Anakin bites his lip. “If she’s not who we’re looking for, then why would the force have drawn you to her? It doesn’t make sense.”

“I don’t know.” Barriss walks into the kitchen area and opens the fridge. “This is pretty stocked, though. It looks like they’re left rather quickly without much preparation. A quick look at local bus and taxi lines and we could probably figure out where they’re going; though with this haste, I’d bet on a spaceport.”

Ahsoka lets the other two speak as she walks into what seems to be the master bedroom—there’s a double bed with unmade covers, a pair of lamps set by each side and indents in the mattress that would suggest recent use. The room is rather sparse, more objects as such seem to be in the child’s room and the living space. The apartment itself is rather small overall though, and that information tells Ahsoka that this is probably a rather poor family living directly of their wages and without much value for material objects.

There’s a pillow on the floor so Ahsoka picks it up to reveal a small circular device underneath. _Must have fallen from the window sill._ Throwing the pillow onto the bed, Ahsoka inspects the device in slightly more detail and realises that a holoprojector—the kind people tend to keep around their houses with still images in them. She turns it on, and it reveals a little girl—presumably the girl who lives here—with an ear to ear smile on her face hugging a toy shaak tightly. The picture makes Ahsoka smile.

But then she notices the little girl’s eyes. Obviously, she cannot see the colour of her eyes since the holo is just in blue but she can see their almost almond-like shape and thick, dark eyelashes—she can see the dark hair she has in pigtails and then all of a sudden that smile looks oh so familiar...

Ahsoka’s eyes go wide and she rushes into the living room, Barriss and Anakin both taken aback by her urgency. “Her name is _Nurse Lumia_!” Ahsoka cries, cursing herself for not figuring it out earlier.

The other two just blink. “Yeah, we know.”

“Lumia like _Luminara Unduli!_ ” Both seem even more surprised at that statement, so Ahsoka turns on the holoprojector and throws it to Anakin. “Tell me that isn’t baby Nerina. Just think about—this _Nurse Lumia_ can use the force, she recognised and ran away from Jedi, the matron knew barely anything about her. This apartment shows that there’s three people living here—Luminara, Obi-Wan and Nerina. It must be!”

At that, Barriss’ face falls. “I’m not saying I think it is...but if it was Master Unduli that I saw, why would she push me and run away? Why...why wouldn’t she be happy to see me?”

_Ah._ Ahsoka acknowledges in that moment that she may have been a little to brash in her discovery considering the kind of complicated yet warm dynamic Luminara and Barriss had previously left their relationship on.  She hesitantly takes Barriss’ hand. “She was probably scared, Barriss. She didn’t know why we were there.”

“But...” Barriss bites her lip and shakes her head. “No, you’re right. I’m just being silly. She must have thought I was there for something or...I don’t know. But she would never think I really wanted to hurt her, would she?”

“No.” Ahsoka says with absolute certainty. “She would never. She loves you, you know that.”

Anakin throws Barriss the holoprojector. “Look at that.”

Barriss turns it on and her eyes glaze over ever so slightly. The more she looks at her, the more Ahsoka can see the striking resemblance between the little girl and her mother, even with wisps of Obi-Wan threaded in there. It must be bizarre for Anakin too, to see his old Master in the girl, but he certainly isn’t having such emotional reaction—or, at least, it doesn’t look like he is.

The mirialan Jedi takes a deep sigh and makes eye contact with Ahsoka for a long moment. She then, gently and hesitantly, lays her head on her friend’s shoulder as she looks into the holo and melancholily reminisces.


End file.
